Your Moment of SVENNESS 1.5

Bill Schieken

For YMOS 1.5 we go back to the Belgian National Championship that took place in Erpe-Mere on January 11. Instead of concentrating on the leaders at the front, this episode takes a look at the “elites without contracts” who race at the same time as the pros with contracts. The riders in this group are some of the strongest in the world and the race for the non-contract title this year is fierce. YMOS 1.5 also concentrates on one of the favorites to win that race, Jan Denuwelaere. We look at Denuwelaere’s season, career and finishline controversies before breaking down the battle he has with two other riders during the Belgian National Championship.

This episode is presented by CrossVegas (www.crossvegas.com) and Skills Drills and Bellyaches: A Cyclocross Primer, available at www.cyclocrossbook.com. Also check out everything at www.svenness.com.

Bill Schieken

6 thoughts on “Your Moment of SVENNESS 1.5”

Thanks for the video. You are so right about having a result that gives you the motivation to go again next year. Got 5th on both of the final races of the season and I now can’t wait for the next one. Keep the videos coming!

Jan D. can still ride for Golden Palace, but he is just riding “without contract” or more correctly a “professional contract”. In Belgium that would require a guarantee with the federation and a minimum salary (around 1,800 euros a month I believe). He and many other riders on Golden Palance, Telenet and other teams still ride for them, but without a professional contract. Maybe for nothing but team support and some stipend money.

It’s an interesting system, one that happens in the mens road side as well, where Belgian road race usually has only a hand full of Continental riders at Nationals because most are not fully paid professionals. On my old pro team in 2005 I think we had two fully paid professionals, one which was paid by the team, the other paid by a personal sponsor.